| The Major BBS/Worldgroup Server | |
| Author: | Tim Stryker and others |
| Developer: | Galacticomm, Inc., Elwynor Technologies, LLC |
| Latest Release Version: | Worldgroup Server 3.3 |
| Programming Language: | Turbo C |
| Operating System: | MS-DOS with DOS extender Unix (MBBS 6.x/WG 1.x only) Windows NT (WG 3.x only) |
| Platform: | IBM PC compatible |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Bulletin board system |
| License: | Proprietary software (source code available by separate license) |
| Worldgroup Manager | |
| Developer: | Galacticomm, Inc., Elwynor Technologies, LLC |
| Operating System: | Microsoft Windows |
| Platform: | IBM PC compatible |
| Genre: | Bulletin board system GUI client |
The Major BBS (sometimes MajorBBS or MBBS) was bulletin board software (a bulletin board system server) developed between 1986 and 1999 by Galacticomm. In 1995 it was renamed Worldgroup Server and bundled with a user client interface program named Worldgroup Manager for Microsoft Windows. Originally DOS-based, two of the versions were also available as a Unix-based edition, and the last versions were also available for Windows NT-based servers.
The Major BBS was developed by Tim Stryker and launched in 1986 by Stryker's company, Galacticomm, Inc., as a demonstration of the abilities of the Galacticomm Software Breakthrough Library (or GSBL). The GSBL was a powerful set of assembler routines written for IBM and compatible PCs that allowed up to 32 simultaneous serial port or dialup connections to a single software instance without the need for an external multitasker. The "breakthrough" was that the library polled the serial ports, rather than allowing them to interrupt the processor, which was against the accepted wisdom of the time, and through use of polling and making use of the FIFO buffers that were by this time standard on UART chips, an - at the time - unheard of number of serial ports could be attached to a PC. Because interrupts were not used, there were no issues relating to interrupt conflicts on PC hardware of the day.
The GSBL was licensed to developers for varied uses, such as communications systems, bank systems, and real estate systems. Eventually, The Major BBS was enhanced enough that it became a marketable product in its own right. By late 1987, Galacticomm was licensing more copies of The Major BBS than the GSBL by itself. The GSBL continued to be enhanced, expanding to 64 users by 1988, then 256 by 1992, with The Major BBS's line capacity expanding as a result.
Because it was one of the few multi-line bulletin board systems, MBBS software was known for fostering online communities and an interactive online experience where users were able to interact with each other via Teleconference (chat rooms) and multiplayer games. This flexibility spawned a small industry of Independent Software Vendors (ISV) who began developing MBBS add-ons, which ranged from shopping malls (what would now be called shopping cart software) to online role playing games.
The Major BBS allowed incoming connections via modems on telephone lines, IPX networks, and X.25 packet-switched networks. In the mid-1990s, the offering expanded to include TCP/IP by the ISV Vircom, a Canadian company that has since become well known for its anti-spam/anti-virus software, shortly followed by Galacticomm's own TCP/IP add-on, the Internet Connection Option (ICO), which was derived from another ISV's offering.
In 1992, the Major BBS was selected by the National Library of Medicine as the access mechanism for the Grateful Med medical journal system, just prior to universal access via the World Wide Web.
Seeking to compete with America Online, Galacticomm extended The Major BBS software to communicate in a client–server model with a custom program. The MBBS software was renamed Worldgroup Server, and released in 1995 with the version number restarting at 1.0; the included user-side client software was named Worldgroup Manager (but sometimes known as Worldgroup Client) and ran in Microsoft Windows.
Version 3.0 in 1997, the first 32-bit version of Worldgroup Server, was released for Windows NT. Other versions, like the DOS compatible version continued in development simultaneously. Version 3.0 finally focused on an active HTML web community, after three years of concentrating on the original client–server strategy. Version 3.1 was the final version of the Worldgroup Server to support DOS.
Although Worldgroup initially had some success, the initial proprietary client/server model was an unfortunate strategic choice, as the World Wide Web was just emerging as a dominant phenomenon. The popularity of the text-terminal-based BBSes, as well as America Online's proprietary client model, faded as online use became web-oriented. Galacticomm's slow response in adapting to the web-based online model probably was fatal.
Founder Tim Stryker committed suicide on August 6, 1996, in Colorado, and the company was sold by his widow Christine to a group headed by Yannick Tessier, owner of Tessier Technologies, who developed software as an ISV. As Galacticomm Technologies, Inc., Tessier and Peter Berg led the company toward an initial public offering, which failed in 1998. The company discontinued operations in 1999 and was foreclosed upon by their primary lender; the lender acquired the company's assets through the foreclosure in 2002. The company's assets were purchased by an ISV from the bank in 2005.
MBBS ran on standard Intel PC hardware. However it relied on serial ports the number of which was limited to 4 by the standard PC/MS-DOS architecture. Therefore, Galacticomm provided some of their own hardware to increase the number of communication channels.